N.J. is a leader on criminal justice reform. So why this racial disparity? | Editorial

A new study from the Sentencing Project found New Jersey has the highest racial disparity in the nation among black and white prisoners. (File photo)

New Jersey has done better, faster work than most states in driving down its prison population. Since 2000, we've reduced it by as much as 28 percent, while crime fell by 30 percent.

Some credit goes to former Gov. Jon Corzine, who greatly expanded the use of drug courts to divert addicts to treatment. He also reformed drug-free school zone laws, which crowded our prisons with people of color serving harsh sentences while doing little to prevent dealing near schools.

And during his time in office, we finally stopped sending so many people back to prison for minor parole violations. That may have had the greatest effect.

But Gov. Christie has done well, too, growing drug court to handle an extra 1,000 people over the last two years. His plan to reform our bail system -- detaining the dangerous, while releasing those sitting in jail simply because they are poor -- should bring incarceration numbers down even further, starting next year.

Despite all this progress, however, a new report from the Sentencing Project, a Washington D.C. think-tank, spotlights a troubling problem. Yes, New Jersey's prison population has shrunk. And yes, our black incarceration rate is below the national average. But our state still incarcerates blacks at a far higher rate than whites.

New Jersey puts blacks behind bars at 12 times the rate of whites, the report found, compared to a five percent disparity nationwide. The why is not entirely clear. Here's what we know for sure: Those who argue it's simply because people of color commit more crimes are ignoring the facts on the ground.

By focusing on poor, minority areas, police don't just target violent crime - they also aggressively enforce minor violations, with policies like stop and frisk. This means that from a very young age, people of color get drawn into the criminal justice system.

While blacks and whites use drugs at similar rates, studies have shown blacks are considerably more likely to be arrested and serve time in prison for it. And even though our school zone laws no longer carry mandatory minimum sentences -- meaning judges are now allowed to consider the fact that no children were present, and a school wasn't even in sight -- people of color are still more likely to get charged with this offense.

Only 6 percent of a mostly-white suburb like Mansfield is in a school zone. In Newark, just about the only place that's not is on the runway of the airport.

A promising new Senate bill voted out of committee last week would require the publication of a racial and ethnic impact statement for any proposal that affects sentencing, to help prevent disparities like this.

Bail reform should help shrink the racial gap, too, since as many as 70 percent of those now in our jails because they can't afford bail are black or Latino. And a new legislative proposal to ensure cooperative prisoners get out on parole at first eligibility could also reduce it.

But in the meantime, our state should be collecting more solid data to address this racial disparity - and ensure we aren't making it worse.